A recent study suggests that brain MRI abnormalities are more common in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic events, when compared to the findings in normal persons. When investigators analyzed MRI data from 339 patients discharged from their epilepsy monitoring units, they found brain MRI abnormalities in 33.8% of patients with PNEEs and 57.7% in patients with epilepsy, much higher than would be found in a normal population. The researchers also discovered that the brain MRI anomalies during epileptic seizures were more likely to occur in the temporal region of the brain, while PNEE anomalies were more frequently multifocal.
Bolen RD, Koontz EH, Pritchard PB. Prevalence and distribution of MRI abnormalities in patients with psychogenic nonepileptic events. Epilepsy Behav. 2016;59:73-76.
